The Supreme Court has taken suo moto cognisance of the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor in Kolkata’s state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and posted the matter for hearing on Tuesday – August 20, 2024.

The matter will be heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra.

Kolkata witnessed a huge uproar of protest that eventually spread to other parts of the country including in the national capital after a body of a post-graduate trainee doctor was found in the seminar room of RG Kar Hospital on August 9.

The Calcutta High Court handed over the investigation into the case after expressing its dissatisfaction over the probe that was being carried by the State police.

On August 16, two advocates – Ujjawal Gaur and Rohit Pandey, while seeking urgent intervention of the top court given the gravity of the incident, in a letter to Chief Justice Chandrachud, urged him to take suo motu cognizance of the case.

“The nation looks to the judiciary as the ultimate guardian of justice, the last refuge for those whose cries have been silenced by brutality. The victim in this case, a young doctor whose life was dedicated to serving others, deserves nothing less than the full measure of justice that our legal system can provide. Her death must not be in vain, it must galvanize us to act, to ensure that no other woman suffers such a fate,” the lawyers wrote in their letter to the CJI.

The letter further stated that the time has come for the judiciary to send a clear and resounding message that such heinous crimes will not be tolerated, that the sanctity of life and the dignity of women must be fiercely protected by the full might of the law.

Thereafter another letter petition was filed by one Dr Monica Singh, from Army college of dental sciences from Secunderabad, Telangana, seeking immediate intervention of the top court in the wake of a series of attacks on medical professionals, particularly the incident in Kolkata. Besides rape and murder of the PG trainee doctor in Kolkata medical college on August 9, 2024, the letter petition also pointed to the subsequent attacks on the RG Kar Medical College on August 14.

The alleged rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor unleashed a wave of nationwide protests and strikes against the incident with protesters demanding severe punishment to the accused persons and sought safety and security for themselves.